THAILAND (KINGDOM OF THAILAND) COVERS AN AREA OF 513,115 SQ KM, ITS POPULATION IS 59 MILLION, ITS CAPITAL CITY IS BANGKOK, AND ITS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IS THAI.

August 2013: On August 19th, started operations Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) to Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT).

August 2014: Asia Atlantic Airways (AAQ) operates charter passenger and cargo services from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) to Japan, Cambodia, South Korea and plans to fly to 6 destinations in China, plus the USA and Europe.

Citing safety concerns highlighted by an international audit, the agency late in March imposed a ban on Thai airlines from operating new charter and scheduled services to Japan.

Nearly 120,000 travelers seeking to go to Japan on flights operated by national carrier, Thai Airways International (TII), as well as long-haul, low-cost carriers (LCC)s like Thai AirAsiaX (THX) and NokScoot (NSC), had been expected to be affected by the ban.

Under the provisional lifting of the ban, airlines are not permitted to change the type of airplanes they have indicated they will operate, Prajin said. Scheduled flights to Japan will continue to operate as normal, he said.

Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) aims to complete on April 10 the re-evaluation of 6 airlines' licences and will send the finding to Japan's Civil Aviation Agency, Voradech Hanprasert, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Thai Transport Ministry, said.

NokScoot (NSC), a joint venture (JV) between Nok Air (NKA) and (SCT), a Singapore Airlines (SIA) subsidiary, is expected to be most affected, given it needs to delay launch of new scheduled flights to Japan, Voradech said.

The safety concern was raised in late March during an audit of the (DCA) by the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which gave (DCA) a 90-day grace period to comply with international standards.

Voradech said the (DCA) has to improve its operations to meet a deadline in June, while Thai authorities will speed up the restructuring of the (DCA) and the amendment of regulations by October.

Over the next 2 months, the (DCA) will also re-evaluate all 41 licenses it granted to airlines, starting with 28 carriers flying international routes, to ensure that its operations are in line with (ICAO) standards, Prajin, the Thai Transport Minister, said.

Thailand has struggled for almost a decade to comply with (ICAO) standards, the Minister has said.